politics midterm

International System

A set of relations structured according to written and unwritten rules and patterns of interaction

States

Entities that exercise authority over geographically specified territory and permanent population and are formally recognized by other states

Nations

Grouping of people who share a common understanding of their identity, history, language, culture (but dont necessarily control a state)

Treaty of Westphalia

1648

Supra- and sub- national actors

Supra- intergovernmental Organizations(IGOs), International Non-Governmental Orgs (INGOs), Multinational Corporations(MNCs)

Sub- Politicians, Bureaucracies, domestic interest groups, ethnic and sectarian groups

IGO’s, NGO’s,MNC’s

Supranational actors

Levels of analysis

Individual, state, system

Sovereignty

The ability to exclude external authority

Containment

Keeping something harmful under control or within limits

Positivism

Systematize theory building and make it more measurable

Epistemology and ontology

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge And Ontology is a particular theory about the nature of being or the kinds of things that have existence

Classical realism

Explains international politics in terms of power, not religion or philosophy or ethics

Neorealism

a movement especially in Italian filmmaking characterized by the simple direct depiction of lower-class life

Anarchy

international system lacks a central government

Morality in realism

Ethics are a function of power, power does not concern ethics

Machiavelli

Wrote “the prince”

within human nature there is a lust of power

politics has a moral logic of its own

Ethics are a function of politics not vise versa

He who neglects what is done for what ought to be done sooner effects his ruin

Thucydides

Wrote the History of the Peloponnesian War

The strong get to determine what is moral and the weak must abide by this structure

Melina dialogue

Thucydides idea that the strong do what they can, and the weak do what they must

Hobbes

Wrote The Leviathan

The state of nature is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short

Domestic anarchy transcended by the all powerful leviathan

Power resources

Ability to achieve your preferred outcomes

Tangible power and intangible power

Tangible- gdp, population, geography, industrial base

Intangible- soft power, political culture, patriotism, education, scientific and technological development, “credibility of commitments

Power capabilities

Allows actors to influence events in the short term

Tangible power capabilities and intangible power capabilities

Tangible- size, composition, and preparedness of the military; military industrial capacity; efficiency of state machinery

Intangible- support and legitimacy from population; loyalty of army; reputation with allies

Rationality

Based on logic

Cost benefit analysis

systematic framework for evaluating a project, decision, or policy by comparing the monetary value of all its costs against the monetary value of its benefits to determine if the benefits outweigh the costs

Security dilemma

Any move taken by one state to increase security potentially threatening to other states

Arms races

A competition between states on who has the best, and most powerful armed forces

Hegemony

Dominance and leadership

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Deterrence

Discouraging an action or event Through instilling fear or doubt Of the consequences

Zero sum games

a situation in which one person or group can win something only by causing another person or group to lose it

Relative vs. Absolute gains

Absolute gains measure an actor's total benefits, regardless of others' outcomes, promoting cooperation as a positive-sum outcome. Relative gains focus on how much one actor's benefit compares to another's

Balance of Power

Polarity

Liberalism

Classical idealism

League of Nations

Collective security system

Neo liberal Institutionalism

Interdependence

Regime

Collective goods problem (& free riders)

Democratic Peace Hypothesis

Marxist/Leninist theory

Postmodernism

Constructivists

Norms

Liberal Feminism

Difference/Essentialist Feminism

Postmodern Feminism

Conflicts of interest

Examples of conflicts of interest

Territory

Control of government

Economic and resource conflict

Conflicts of ideas

Ethnicity

Religion

Ideology

Terrorism

Strategies and tactics of terrorism

WTO

U.S. China relations

Russia/ukraine

United Nations

Iran Nuclear Deal

Major world leaders

U.S. Foreign Policymakers

Summary of

Summary of

Summmary of

Summary of